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4.3.1 Contemporary Family Situations

As in every part of the world, Christian families in the Indian context
also have undergone changes. One of the most essential changes to be noted
in the Christian family as a whole is the importance given to the individual,
at the cost of family. The family values are compromised for the sake of
individual fulfilment. One of the traditionally-held values in society is the
role of the family. However, today, society is more concerned about the
rights of the individual person then the rights of the family as the
community of persons.

Those factors which have caused changes in society have also
influenced family life in its function. One such change is the life of the
woman in the family. In the new family structure, the woman in the family
as wife and mother has gained equality with her husband and greater respect
from her children and other members of the family. “Whatever be the
advantages of the traditional patriarchal family the fact is that it has
collapsed in most countries of the West and is starting to collapse even in
the culturally conservative countries like India. There is emerging a new
kind of family in which the couple relationship is based on companionship,
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... giving way to one based on intimacy, mutuality and equal partnership”.
Socio-economical and political factors, too, have greatly affected
family life. People have begun to migrate to other countries of different
culture and language for the possibility of better living economically. The
members and families of Knānāya community have also migrated to other
parts of the world. Today there are twenty Knānāya Catholic missions in the
United States of America under the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic
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Diocese of Chicago. And there are many families and members of this
community in other parts of the world. In spite of the cultural, linguistic,
and social differences, these families and their members are very keen to
retain their special identity as a community wherever they go. The following
statistics illustrate this Knānāya presence in different parts of the world.

70 ALPHONSE, D., “Conflict and Growth in Family life”, in JEEVADHARA, Vol. 23/133,
Kottayam, 1993, p. 58.
71 Cf. ARCHEPARCHY OF KOTTAYAM, Official website. Accessed 8 January, 2014.
< http://kottayamad.org/knanaya-missions-in-usa/>

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